Must read: “The Commons Rising”. A report from the Tomales Bay Institute.
THE COMMONS, n., gifts of nature and society; the wealth we inherit or create together and must pass on, undiminished or enhanced, to our children; a sector of the economy that complements the corporate sector.
If you’re reading this blog, you’re probably already involved or at least aware of most of the issues discussed in the report. You may or may not be aware of the number of activists doing something about it. The sheer volume of people protecting the commons is their core message. Once you’re done with the report, you’ll want to spend some time going through their blog OntheCommons.org, which contains plenty of additional cases and references well organized in a clever taxonomy.
In the spirit of the CC license under which the report is distributed, I wanted to elaborate further on their pages dedicated to culture in the commons (pp 14-17).
The commons of knowledge and culture are as old as humanity, and almost as vital to us as air. They rest on the fact that free exchange of ideas is indispensable to creativity. As Isaac Newton put it, ‘If I have seen [...]
There is a certain hint of a solution in the Toronto Star (Canada) article “Redefining multiculturalism” when it tries to alleviate the claims of others that multiculturalism should be abolished. In concrete, it proposes:
Instead of funding ethnic dance shows, the government needs to modernize immigration and settlement programs into one basket with the common goal of not only enriching what we have here, but to provide the country with access to the skills that will allow it to connect better with the new global economy. Thus, you reframe “multiculturalism” as “strength through integration of diversity.”
The article cites the stereotypical example of a chinese family that never leaves their neighborhood, therefore never bothers to learn other languages than their own. Lacking the tools to survive outside of the boundaries of their “ethnic ghetto”, they would not be able to integrate fully into this society.
While it is very likely that extreme cases such as this exist, the fact is that in an important twist to McLuhan’s generation gap, the youngsters born in a foreign country are more likely to absorb the general elements of culture to find their ways among peers at school, while at the same time [...]
This past weekend I attended the Power of Place festival at the Harbourfront centre (Toronto, Canada). A quick glance at the program reveals the wild variety of performers from all corners of the world. It is this culturally rich because it looks to attract the culturally diverse audience of the Toronto scene, the majority of which are immigrants which have no other place to go to express their pride for their heritage.
Walking among such a crowd can be overwhelming, but a couple of hours of this dose was sufficient to come up with a method for assimilating foreign culture:
Observe: look around. There are always other people that seem to know what they are doing. Whether they know exactly how to eat a particular dish, how to dance at the sound of some rhythm or behave in a particular social setting, it is obvious they belong. They are likely the agents of culture, those who have brought a snippet of global culture to this place.
Analyze: say you’re listening to a live concert, but much of what you hear is new. As most cultural manifestations, a performance such as this is [...]
Parabolicamará brings together the word parabolic, the type of antenna that can be seen everywhere even in the poorest corners of Brazil, and the word camará, the way the players of capoeira, the afro-american ludic martial art, have chosen to name their partners, “camaradas”, while they dance and sing.
With this inspired metaphor, Gilberto Gil illustrated the importance of sharing for the benefit of all people in the age of globalization. His keynote speech was part of the iSummit 2006 event that took place in Rio de Janeiro this past week. While he is best known as a musician, his current role as Minister of Culture and close relationship with the Creative Commons movement is being watched by many with far more interest. A small extract from his speech is sufficient to demonstrate how relevant he is to the shaping of global culture:
These events [such as capoeira] of non-programmed cultural sharing demonstrate that many forces are in action over the culture of the planet, and that speaking merely about homogenization taking place everywhere and always is perhaps simplifying too much the reality. Am I being naïve? I know very well of the other side, the terrible [...]
Almost without noticing our culture is drifting away hijacked by the agents of globalization in their attempt to reach every corner of this world, forcing unwanted migrations and creating lonely souls along the way. This is a journey with no return.
Paul Teolis from Toronto, Canada won the HP 2006 Photo Contest: Imaging a Global Culture with his picture “Graffiti Penguin”:
which depicts a penguin overshadowed in its natural habitat in the Antarctic by what looks to be an oil storage tank covered in graffiti.
Our hope is in the realization that every single element of creative activity contributes to our global culture and that while it may seem as if nobody is interested, these manifestations have persistent journeys beyond our reach. They tend to travel and open the dialog with unknown communities. They are the universal language that may, one day, awaken the sense of unity.
|
|
|
Most Popular